The Beijing Tourism Administration plans to recruit about 1,000 Olympic Families to play host to foreign tourists during the upcoming Olympic Games. Foreign visitors can experience real Beijing people's lifestyles while touring around the city. However, applicants should meet certain standards to be eligible to apply.

Our reporter Michael Lee has the details.

Reporter:

Being an Olympic Family does not just mean providing accommodation for foreigners. Xiong Yumei, deputy director of Beijing Tourism Administration, says the purpose of the project is to reveal the humanistic spirit of the Olympic Games and offer foreign friends a closer look at common Beijingers' lives.

"Beijing has sufficient accommodation resources. The purpose of the project is to boost civilian cultural exchange and reveal the theme of a humanistic Olympic Games."

Besides basic accommodation facilities such as air conditioning, refrigerators, kitchens, and telephones, the families are also required to have foreign language skills.

The "Olympic Family" project is sponsored by China Travel Service and China International Travel Service. It is open to overseas tourist groups. Their tours will be arranged by travel agencies.

Zhao Xin, director of the Olympic Games department of China Travel Service, says there will surely be some Olympic elements on the tourists' agenda.

"Besides the usual choices, Olympic elements will be added to travelers' tours, including at the very least, watching one match, visiting one venue, buying souvenirs and joining one community folk arts activity."

The Olympic families will mainly be selected from downtown areas due to transportation considerations.

According to the recruiting department of the project, the language abilities of the selected families will not be limited to English. Those who can communicate in French, German, Japanese, Russian and so on are also encouraged to apply.

Miss Guo's family is one of the applicants. She has been making lots of preparation work in terms of cooking and learning English, hoping to win the opportunity to become an Olympic Family.

"If the guests are from Mexico, and like spicy food, I'll go with Hu Bei and Guang Xi cuisine. If they are from Europe, I can make barbecued pork and smoked fish. I also want to show them some Chinese dishes that I cook the best."

The service fees of the Olympic Family are primarily set between 400 and 600 yuan per room per day, or roughly between 57 and 85 US dollars.

Michael Lee, CRI News.